Addresses the needs of veterans in supporting transportation, both for daily needs as well as for medical assistance and other periodic appointments or services.

The initial program we intend to implement in this arena is an on-demand door-to-door service using Uber® and Lyft®. This service will provide maximum benefit to the recipient at a reasonable cost. This service is appropriate when traditional subsidized or unsubsidized transportation options are limited or non-existent, such as after-hours transport, transport across political boundaries or transport to/from unserviced addresses. This approach has been successful at the VAMC in Philadelphia and our funding would allow for expansion at the Philadelphia VAMC and allow us to port the approach out to Chester, Montgomery, and other nearby counties. The VAMC tended to use this approach for cancer patients who need rides after therapy sessions and the traditional forms of transport are arduously long or uncomfortable. An added benefit of this approach would be the ability to capture data about the areas commonly serviced and to better identify where services are required.

We will partner with established providers like Uber® and Lyft® for assistance in transportation and eliminate the significant transportation gap that exists for people in need of many forms of assistance. Although there are existing avenues through which people can receive assistance, many of these avenues are closed if the intended beneficiaries cannot take advantage of them due to a lack of accessible transportation. Affordable and accessible transportation is a key element in obtaining the benefit from many of these support services.